


say darling, hello again

by Felikid



Category: Persona 5, Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Loads of crying (It's all happy tears i promise), Post-Canon, Reunions, a look into what Hikari might be moving on with her life, and also adding on to the pq2 ending because i want them all to hug, ocs created specifically to be hikari's friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:34:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25732924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Felikid/pseuds/Felikid
Summary: Hikari is sixteen years old, in her first year of high school, a total film aficionado, and a shut-in.One of those things changes when she wakes from a ratheradventurousdream.(Hikari moves on with her life, joins a club, creates the movie of her Dreams, and reunites with friends thought imaginary.)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 79





	say darling, hello again

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote most of this on a bus ride the very day i beat pq2, but now i finally managed to sit down and finish this thing. I hope y'all enjoy. I love Hikari. All ocs are there for the express purpose of friendship and not much else to be honest.

Hikari is sixteen years old, in her first year of high school, a total film aficionado, and a shut-in.

Shut-in not in the sense she _can‘t_ leave her room – she can and does exit her safe haven sometimes – but rather in the sense she would preferably not.

This changes when Hikari has The Dream. The Dream with a capital D, beause it‘s not any regular old dream. The Dream was an  _adventure._

One Saturday night to Sunday morning, Hikari dreams and dreams and dreams of movies and monsters and people in masks and robots and dogs and of  _standing up for herself._

She dreams of a god, an angel, a demon, some other divine being lulling her in and whispering  _give up, stay here, nothing will change and that will be_ good.

And she dreams of standing before its heavenly form and saying  _no_ _. I will face reality even if I will be unhappy. If reality is unjust, I will just have to_ change _it._

The Dream, The beautiful Dream, so grand that, if someone handed her a calling card and said her heart was changed by the Phantom Thieves, she‘d believe them.

The Dream, ironically enough, woke her up. She wakes up, gets up, and gets out of her room. First she apologizes to her father – though she does not mention a dream slime monster with his face motivated her to do so – and told him,  _I want to make movies again._

He replies,  _I can‘t wait to watch them._ For the first time in months or years, Hikari believes him.

She was not alone in The Dream, of course. First, there were the people in masks. If, after the Dream, she gains a never before seen interest in the Phantom Thieves making rounds in the media, no one comments.

Next, there was the up-beat girl with red hair. Hikari can‘t find anything on her, no matter how much she scouts the internet. But her new movie inspirations might draw from supernatural cases in the future; it‘s a wonder there are no films on Apathy Syndrome yet. Horror, or mystery, it could even be Sci-Fi, if you twist it right.

Then was the investigators.. Hikari watches streams of all available Risette concerts, as well as old interviews of the First Detective Prince, unearths small town newspaper articles from 2014, and shops at Junes instead of Triple Seven.

Last came that squad, the girl‘s friends. The news of  _Popular Actress to return as Feather Pink_ catch her eye more than it should for someone with no interest in Featherman, the reporter speaking of some businesses‘ new leadership halts her in her tracks, a new baseball star fascinates her for no particular reason, and all dogs she draws have wings.

Somehow, through some miracle granted by the collective will of people like her, The Dream follows her into real life,  like the dog sticking to the kid, or the bear hounding his buddy, or the cat (the not-a-cat) trailing after his leader.

A month after The Dream, Hikari stands before a door at school instead of booking it straight home like usual. Her hands shake as she raises them to knock, a chorus of  _they‘ll hate you they‘ll betray you they‘ll judge you_ echoing through her thoughts.

Then, the doors to the Kosei Film Club fly open. A girl steps out, with long dark hair, square glasses, and eyes filled to the brim with life. The girl is a dinosaur to Hikari, but tilts her head in the same manner as a curious robot.

“Hi there,” says the girl, “wanna join the Film Club?”

Hikari nods.

The girl leans in much to close – Hikari sees her own reflection in the girl’s glasses – and squeaks, “Amazing! Marvelous! Beyond  _incredible!”_

She drags Hikari inside by the sleeve of her uniform. For the first time since forever, Hikari thinks to herself, _Maybe life will change for the better now._

The wonderful thing is, _it does._

The girl soon transforms into Chihiro, president of the Film Club, as well as an overexcited girl full of passion for movies and films of all kinds. A wild whirlwind of compassion and purpose.

She pushes Hikari to new heights as a script-writer and director and enables Hikari’s long dormant sweet tooth with one crepé too many.

Fancying herself a soon-to-be superstar, a breath of life enters Hikari’s scripts where Hikari cannot act them out herself. Chihiro listens to nothing and no one in real life, but once the cameras roll, she follows Hikari’s directions to the letter except when expanding on them in ways beyond words.

“At least,” Hikari says, “you’re a better actress than Ann.”

Chihiro replies, “Who’s Ann? A friend of yours?” and Hikari cannot answer.

“Someone I met, some time ago. We promised to meet again one day.”

The Film Club’s president is not its only member. Taeko arrives, an avid gossip and salvation in the form of a good mic with mixing skills to match. If somebody finds a mic where they shouldn’t, that’s just natural, isn’t it?

Taeko improves Hikari’s social skills by force, analyzing everyone and everything, reading emotion from the slightest change of tone. The Hikari before The Dream might’ve been afraid, but the Hikari now takes a sip of cocoa Taeko brought and asks, “What did you hear about today?”

The queen of drama lives to deliver. “You know Kitagawa? One of the second year artsy people? Well, you won’t believe this, but -” she looks left and right, as if anyone would dare eavesdrop on her, “Togo, the shogi girl, the famous one, spotted him chasing after lobsters.  Two of them, in the dead of night!

“That sounds just like Yusuke,” Hikari smiles.

“First name basis, oh my! Are you two friends? How did I not know? Since when-”

“Oh. We’re not friends though.”

It continues. The Dream bleeds to life beyond Hikari’s private obsessions.

The Film Club’s cameraman, a reclusive boy by the name of Satoru, once again goes on his weekly triade of mumbling to himself as he paced around the clubroom, somehow avoiding all the cables he is supposed to clean up.

At this point familiar with these low volume rants despite his ever stoic expression Hikari asks, “What’s got you so riled up today?”

He halts with his foot in the air, continues on after one missed beat. “Did you see that last interview with the detective guy? I can’t stand him. You might think he’s nice but I know better.”

“What’s so bad about him?” He was quite pleasant to speak with, last she remembered.

Satoru continues, voice still flat as roadkill, “He goes on and on how the Phantom Thieves are evil, but what about the “justice” system? That 99% conviction rate we’ve got here. How many innocents land in jail when the scumbags in charge go free?”

“That’s not his fault, though.”

“But maybe he should investigate his coworkers before jailing the heroes changing the hearts evil.”

Hikari laughs. First she smiles, then she giggles, then she laughs loud and clear.

As always, Satoru’s expression doesn’t twitch. _As always_ , isn’t that nice to think. The habits and quirks of her fellow club members present a reliability she never thought she could fall back on. But here he is, as always. “You think it’s funny.”

“It’s ironic,” she says, “that he denounces himself.”

“Hikari. Are you saying the second Detective Prince is a Phantom Thief?”

“Wasn’t he?”

“No.”

Sometime, some months later, September, maybe, there is a student film festival. The Kosei Film Club applies.

With Hikari’s script.

“But, but you can’t! It’s not finished!” she stutters in protest. Indeed, the stack of papers containing her manuscript boasts a vast array of half-baked notes in shining red pen.

“Come on, you’re the best director we’ve ever had! Way better than Taeko!” (“I heard that!”) Chihiro places her hands on Hikari’s shoulders in her usual disregard for personal space.

“Yeah, Taeko’s scripts suck,” Satoru chimes in from the communal beanbag until yelping as he descends to the floor after Taeko kindly kicks him off.

Hikari tugs her hat further down. “I do.. have an outline.”

Then, Chihiro snatches it off. “Tell us!”

Hikari gasps. And stares ar her beaming face. At everyone’s beaming faces.

“Well, it’s about…”

And bit by bit, a new movie is born.

It’s everything Hikari has ever dreamed of, and more.

(It hurts to cut down the cast so much, just the four of them for everyone. With Chihiro’s flair for the dramatic, Taeko’s keen nose and curiosity, and Satoru’s aloof yet sincere manner, it hurts a little less.)

Microphone and camera fly around in a game of hot potato, the spotlight spares no one. If you’re not acting, you film. No exceptions.

In the end, the movie Hikari dreamed off isn’t just _her_ movie.

It’s the communal beanbag with a papermask as Doe. It’s Taeko in heels and a wig as Nagi. It’s Satoru complaining about the terrible Kamoshidaman costume ( with a name change for obvious reasons, but the script still calls him that).

Taeko’s friends at the newspaper club don dinosaur costumes. Chihiro’s football team wears robotic armour. Satoru recruits the Art Club for props and backgrounds.

It’s mishaps and re-takes, lighting help and technical know-how. It’s afternoon bleeding into night spent in the city, in the forest, in the gym, everywhere and anywhere.

In the end, the movie Hikari dreamed off isn’t just _her_ movie. It’s _everyone’s._

(And if a couple more someones get included in Hikari’s definition, no one but her will ever know.)

It’s crooked and overdramatic and overacted but full of heart and fun and _friends._

On the last day of filming, after the grand battle with the painted Enlil, Hikari cries. She cries on camera, film-perfect drops bidding farewell to her friends, and even after the lenses’ eyes leave her, she doesn’t stop.

Her friends crowd around her, concern in each and every gaze intensifying her sobs.

Overwhelmed, she throws her arms around them all, dragging them into a pile on the floor. “My film is alive! It’s done! I couldn’t have done it without you all. I-, I love you all!”

When a hand strokes her cheek, Hikari, eyes still wet with tears, sees Chihiro smiling at her. “We love you, too.”

For the first time in days, months, maybe years – Hikari believes it.

Hikari’s father drinks his morning coffee when his daughter – oh, how it delights him to see her out and about – stretches her hands out to him.

She doesn’t meet his eyes, as she often does, but the red of her cheeks speaks of her effort to give him this object. “I’ve, uh, got something for you.”

A suspicion of a promise forms in his head. Then, a smile on his face as he spots the ticket. The ticket of admission to a student film festival, among the listed titles one _New Cinema Labyrinth,_ directed by one Hikari.

He takes the tickets from her hands, turns it over, admires it from all sides. “It’s a ticket,” Hikari says, “for you. My friends and I worked very hard on it.”

How he wants to wrap his arms around her right then and there. Instead, he pats her on the head, like he used to what feels like ages ago, and beams. “I’ll be right there cheering you on. Count on it.”

The day of the show arrives. The day of the show arrives with every single person to ever grace the set attending.

She should feel nervous. So many people, those she knows and those she doesn’t, sit silent, judging her. All eyes rest on her film; all her work could fall short. Maybe then, everyone will realize her script is horrid, embarrassing, a total utter failure-

The crowd applauds. Hikari watches from the front row where participants wait for their call to the stage. She sees that everybody – without exception – claps in roaring applause behind her. Calls and shouts, most of all from a row in the middle, filled with student-age teens who couldn’t be more different from each other.

“That was _so_ good, I can’t believe it,” “What? I didn’t cry, what are you saying,” “I did not see that high production value coming, holy shit.”

“I can’t believe how good that was!” says a girl with blonde pigtails.

Ann? Who is she?

A shorter girl, hair bright orange with headphones stapped on replies, “You don’t really expect that kind of stuff from a Student Film Festival.”

Futaba? Why is she here?

Seated far to the left, a girl in a pink sweater smiles. “The ending was delightful! Don’t you agree, Ryuji?”

Haru? How does she know her?

Said boy, furhter to the right, hair bleached blond, hastily wipes away a tear. “I didn’t cry! That was all you!”

Ryuji? How did Hikari expect his reaction?

Two seats over, girl sitting neatly says, “Nobody implied you did. Though it was quite the touching film.”

Makoto? Why is Hikari so happy to see her?

A boy dressed in white, she’s seen him with the Art Club, adds, “I am most pleased with my contribution toward such a masterpiece.”

Yusuke? Why does Hikari want to reach out to him?

Even tucked away in the last row, the Detective Prince allows himself a smile.

The last one, fluffy-haired and smiling faintly, turns toward a- a cat? In his bag, it meows at him and Hikari _understands_ that the cat, no, not a cat, _Morgana_ must’ve praised her film, because the boy, Akira, Joker, he _replies_.

Why does she know them? From where does she know them? When how why what-

Hikari’s hands shake. The credits roll and her tears almost with them.

She’s been crying a lot lately. For once, they’re all good tears.

Finally, after the applause fades away, the announcer steps back on the stage. The winner has been decided. Satoru pretends it doesn’t interest him, Taeko tries not to wriggle in her seat, Chihiro waves her arms around in anticipation. Hikari shakes.

“And now… we’d like the preceding movie’s director to take the stage.” No no no, that’s _her_ that’s _Hikari._

Chihiro taps her on the shoulder “Go on, you deserve it.” She nods toward the stage.

“Everyone, please welcome her with a warm round of applause.” The room flares again as hands slam together. All for her.

Hikari stands. Perhaps it is more frightening than Nagi’s true form looming above her with bittersweet promises of protection and paradise. Step by step, the spotlight calls for her all the same.

“Allow me to introduce her. She depicted her own stuggles in the film ‘New Cinema Labyrinth’. Her name is-”

In a heartbeat she sees, without looking, really, that eight pairs of eyes all widen in sync.

“Hikari!”

Once again, the room swells with cheer.

Hikari’s heart does, too.

Afterwards, she returns to her friends. They throw her into the air. Her hair whips past her face as the three other club members heft her up. They all promise to celebrate together later somewhere, karaoke maybe.

For now, Hikari leaves the venue alone but not lonely.

Others stream out alongside her since the festival has ended, though a group of students remain outside.

In a heartbeat, she rushes, feet flying, until she lands right in front of them. As she catches her breath, the blond boy, Ryuji, leans down to her level. “Aren’t you that girl who won the contest?”

“Yes, I-” she breathes in again, “- I am. My name is Hikari, but I think you already know that?”

She hopes, dearly, that she’s right. _Please_ let them pick up on what she meant by that.

Sure enough, the leader steps forth. He’s still so much taller than her, he still has those same grey eyes filled with mischief, he still has that same uniform and the same hair and he matches up so _perfectly_ to the boy in The Dream.

And, for Joker, a bell rings in the back of his mind. Throughout the entire movie, this persistent little inkling pestered him, only confirmed with a smile when Hikari entered center stage.

He does not say, “It’s nice to meet you.”

Joker says, “It’s nice meet you _again.”_

Hikari throws her arms around him. Fat drops of water and salt splatter down her cheeks and onto his uniform. “You’re real! I knew you’re real all along! I made this movie all thanks to you!”

Her friend continues holding her shaking back. Softly, she feels his hand run through her hair. “I knew you’re real, too,” he whispers.

Realization dawns on the other Phantom Thieves one by one. “Hikari!” Ann is the first to rush forward and hug her back. All of them, without exception, follow suit.

“Thank you,” Hikari sobs, “thank you so much.”

Joker places his hand on her chin and tilts her head upward. Her red eyes meet his, and her tears of joy find a gentle mirror.

“We’re all real, Hikari. And we’re so proud of you.”

Maybe some dreams do come true.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't get me wrong, the pq2 ending is great and i love it, but also, i want them to hug. Is that too much to ask. I wanted to see Hikari carry the lessons she learned into her life and just. move on. So i wrote that. I also gave her friends because she deserves that. Yes i made ocs ambiguously themed around the three relevant persona games despite the fact i've never played persona 4 JUST so hikari can have friends. 
> 
> Ironically enough, because i procrastinated so much, their first appearance in my writing is as a cameo in a kh fic. I'm efficient like that.


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